Bill to split WNC judicial district introduced in NC House

Apr. 13—Western North Carolina district court judges may receive some relief in their service to the judicial district.

North Carolina's HB-405, if passed, would split the 30th judicial district into 30A (to include Graham, Macon, Cherokee and Clay counties) and 30B (to include Haywood, Jackson and Swain), while also supplementing resources in hopes of improving the system's efficiency.

Rep. Mike Clampitt, who sponsored the legislation, said he brought the bill forward based on requests from individuals in the court system within his district, which is made up of Jackson, Swain and part of Haywood counties.

"That was a request that came from some of the individuals there to get some relief for the court docket and scheduling of cases," he said. "And it's not that unusual to split a district."

Waynesville resident Danny Davis served as the chief district court judge in the district from 2004-2010. He said that in the past when people brought up splitting the district, he was against it, but on the heels of such significant growth in Haywood and Jackson counties, he's now in favor.

"These aren't the same counties they were 10 years ago when I retired," he said. "Haywood and Jackson make up greater than 50% of the caseload for the whole district."

"All you have to do is look at Haywood County," he added. "It's booming, and things are changing."

It takes about an hour and a half to drive from Waynesville to Murphy, meaning three hours of a judge's day can be taken up by the commute. If the bill was passed, the farthest they'd have to travel from Waynesville is to Bryson City or Sylva. Davis said that extra time would lead to more cases being heard, which would increase overall efficiency of the court system across the board.

Another consideration Davis pointed out is that in matters regarding child custody or domestic violence cases, there is one district court judge assigned to one family, meaning parties in those cases may have to travel to have their cases heard.

"Some folks have to get in their car and drive from Murphy to Waynesville just to get a judge to sign an Ex parte order," he said. "To make people get in their car and drive 90 miles to get a judge to look at something it doesn't make sense anymore."

"If you split it, nobody [in 30A] has to drive more than 45 minutes and nobody here has to drive more than 35 minutes," he added.

The superior court judicial district was broken up into 30A and 30B in the late 1980s, with 30B encompassing Haywood and Jackson counties. Davis said he is in favor of including Swain in 30B if the district court judicial district is split, considering the Eastern Band of the Cherokee are in both Jackson and Swain counties, which makes cases there easier to navigate.

In addition to splitting the judicial district, if approved, the bill would provide more resources — most notably two more district court judges for 30A (30B already has its five) and two more prosecutors. According to the bill, those additional resources would cost $553,946 in recurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year and $759,038 in recurring funds for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

The new judicial appointments in 30A would be determined by the governor.

Because the prosecutorial district would still cover all seven western counties, the new assistant district attorneys could feasibly work out of any courthouse, although District Attorney Ashley Welch's office provided no information as to how the bill may affect it.

"The proposal to change the geographic boundaries for district court judges is speculative," Welch said in an email. "We believe comment about such a split is best left to the judges themselves, since they have initiated the action and sought passage of a corresponding bill in the General Assembly."

Davis said he believes that while splitting the district would initially cost more due to adding the additional judges and prosecutors, it would pay off in the long run.

"What you save will make up for it," he said.

Davis added that he believed the bill will have strong support from the legal community.

"I think it's getting quite a bit of support," he said. "Most of the attorneys I've talked to are in favor of it."

Clampitt hinted that the bill is viewed favorably in Raleigh, but before becoming law, it must first clear a number of hurdles, including the house appropriations committee.

"I've heard positive responses," Clampitt said. "But there will be a lot of information brought in. We have a lot of requests every year and we have to review everything carefully. You can never really guess what might happen with a bill."